Community stands up for education

Central office and the school board were in the hot seat at the April 28 meeting of the Westmoreland County School Board, but W&L High School also got the spotlight.

Picture taken prior to the Westmoreland County School Board meeting. As the 6 p.m. meeting time approached, people continued to pack the room.

Students, staff and concerned parents and citizens one by one got up in front of the board and the 300 plus people in attendance and shared with everyone just what has been happening within those walls.

All the comments seemed to echo the first speaker Brenda Squire’s remark that “the high school is literally and metaphorically falling apart.” Squires told the board that they needed to face the real brutal facts; that to the public it seems the transfers were personal vendettas being taken out by people of high power and those individuals need to be gotten rid of.

Her daughter Megan, a 10th grader at W&L, echoed her mother, saying that the school system is broken, employees need to be held accountable for their actions and the school system has a number of employees who are unprofessional, but these positions that should be scrutinized are not, but are being sugarcoated. She also said that some of the higher rank employees don’t support the staff members or their discipline efforts.

Frank English, former W&L librarian, stressed the importance of discipline and authority throughout the whole school system. It is important, he said, that rules are established and that teachers have strong principals and assistant principals to enforce those rules, but he went on, this is not happening in at least one or more county schools and at central office. “School board do your duty, central office do your duty, and administration do your duty, so our teachers can teach and our students can learn.”